Manifest Destiny
by Charlie73
Summary: Post-apocalyptic world. Fate intervenes. Is she kind, or cruel? It's the year 3323, Our Bella is living in a small colony with other survivors. Hope for the continuation of mankind is in their hands, populations, lives and resources are dwindling. Come with her on her journey, to save humanity. HEA, OOC, Canon couples(mostly) Rated T maybe M later, cuz I'm paranoid.
1. Chapter 1

Manifest Destiny

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines manifest destiny as: a future event accepted as inevitable.

Never has it been more relevant than in the pages of this story. Can fate and destiny have so much power as to intertwine not one, but two world's inevitabilities? I'll let you be the judge of just how cruel or kind the goddesses of fate and destiny really are.

…..MD…

Events starting in the age of New Moon: (circa: 2253 a.d.)

History recalls some of the last formally written pages in the last days of the world, as an epic meltdown in the propensity of mankind to hold onto his own future, that fear and despair so completely took over the rationality of mankind that they destroyed themselves and it was no one's fault but their own.

There were so many years, so many scientists' worldwide programs to watch just one thing, the stars. How this passed by any of their views, no one will ever know for sure. Perhaps, tiredness set in, and the one on duty at the time, had a rowdy night before and fell asleep at the wheel per say.

Whatever the lapse, the ensuing collapse of the known world could never have been perceived in this way; no most figured the world would end when the world's politicians forgot how to make nice with each other.

It was something that should have been seen beforehand, but never was, and that created the world's worst disaster.

An asteroid that should have been seen from so far away, but it wasn't, it was bypassed and when it was discovered, it was far too late to stop the desolation that occurred; it was inevitable, of course fate already knew this, the sly goddess.

No, it didn't crash into the earth and cause hydrogen bomb-like disasters. It wasn't epically enormous; it was small as asteroids go. It was relatively harmless and unimposing to the observers watching, studying it once discovered.

You see, by the time they found it, it was near mars already. It took very little time to get from there to where they thought would pass by earth. Oh, they all had their plans and plots, and targeted trajectories laid out, they were all so sure it would completely skip by earth as if skipping a pebble in a lake.

But in what can only be described as god-like intervention, the damn thing caused ripples across the world, just like the rock on the lake, when it suddenly got bounced around and pulled into the moon's gravitational pull.

This was actually so intriguing to the scientists and they were nearly orgasmic in their excitement when the object gave the earth for several months, what amounts to being a second, smaller moon.

It's what happened in those months that are so utterly devastating to mankind and no one saw it coming. Like a snake slowly, silently slithering its way to prey, so was the asteroid to humans.

In the months after the new moon appeared, people began to panic. It was like they deemed it magical, spiritual, some even called it apocalyptic. Little did they know they were right, it was apocalyptic.

The new moon caused a disturbance in the gravitational pull; in essence, the moon and the asteroid were fighting each other for the rights of being Earth's only orbital object. The moon of course was bigger, so it won the battle. The asteroid however, it was slowly chunk by chunk disintegrated.

When the asteroid first arrived scientist were so excited to study one up so close and personal. Astronauts and cosmonauts around the world were sent up to check the new celestial being out. What they found is that it was made of a material never seen before.

They concluded that it was likely from a destroyed planet from just outside our solar system, as it had biological properties to it. It was made up of earth-like materials. There were bacteria, rocks, soil all present in samples, but they were unknown elements to earth.

While the scientific community was outrageously excited and studying to their hearts content, they failed to see the warning signs.

The co-worker that got a nose bleed and two weeks later shot herself in the head. Or maybe they never thought to putting that together with the lab worker that caught a nasty cold, and a month later was found dead in his own bathtub. There was also the mystery of a night watchman and his entire family being caught in their burning home unable to get out, only having their bodies discovered tied to chairs in the attic so they couldn't escape the inferno.

Not that it would have mattered if they had caught any of it. It seemed as if fate was determined, as if she needed, no it was as if she was driven with a burning passion to commit her next act of atrocity; the destruction of earth itself.

As the asteroid/moon started to disintegrate, pieces fell to earth in large chunks. People would wander to these fallen objects in droves, all wanting to have a part of history, not realizing they should have followed their instincts and run fast and quickly as far away from it as possible.

It would be recorded that within ten months of new moon's arrival, that things for the little earthlings started taking a turn for the worse. Humans began acting erratically, crazy, like they had all lost their minds.

Landfills spread across the globe as people didn't care where they laid their trash going so far as to trash their own homes and just leave the pile of destruction there spread out as if a hurricane had passed over. They stopped realizing there was indoor plumbing, and they forgot common manners and would walk around coughing and bleeding on each other without remorse, thereby spreading the disease even more.

There was a long history of movie violence revolving around zombies that humans enjoyed watching, this was like that, but this time only fate herself was sitting in her lounger with a bucket of popcorn enjoying the turn of events.

So many people were destroying themselves committing acts of violence and insanity on each other. Some were quieter than that, as if they were under the influence of the heaviest narcotics one could imagine. They simply lost their minds and wherever they landed is where they would take their last breath.

Buildings were set on fire, bodies lay strewn carelessly everywhere, bloodied and bruised or torn apart. Satellites fell from space as no one was manning their orbits, electricity was turned off as no one was manning the stations, and wildlife was running around free, as the plague seemed not to affect them at all and there was no one to care for them. People would stand outside during storms, fascinated and since they lost all sense of safety, would get electrocuted, or in certain circumstances, blown away never to be found again.

No region on earth was safe from the sickness caused by new moon. Populations were decimated within months. It's amazing really, how quickly people turned against each other and there were few that were immune to it, but those that were rallied together in remote regions, away from the insanity of the world.

Those survivors sometimes had to make hard choices, if someone in their newly formed colony started to show symptoms of the plague as they all soon began to call it, they were taken away for the safety of the rest of the group; it was never questioned and all agreed that it had to happen, even if it was them that went insane.

Those unfortunate humans that were so close to surviving the apocalypse were never to be seen again; and the person that took them always came back with a stressed expression, and a changed attitude. Thankfully, this did not happen often, as it was a daunting and life-altering task to have.

The humans that lived to see the new age will remember and pass down their memories; it will become a very large part of their culture, everything will revolve around what happened, the good and the bad, the hope and the consequences of a life that's not lived in a wholesome way. Their ancestors surely will live to be a different kind of human being, but the point is, they will live.

They'll learn that the plague had no boundaries within the survivor's stories. Unlike human battles, where there are rules, it had no rules; man, woman and child alike were all taken by the sickness. It didn't matter if you were a week old, babies would simply scratch themselves till they were bleeding and usually there were no adults capable mentally of stopping the poor things.

If a woman was nine months pregnant, it simply did not matter, she would simply smile and jump off a bridge into what she thought would be a very beautiful sunset lake, only to have it be the heated concrete below.

The plague was a ruthless and cunning killer, enhanced by the ugliness of people, and their uncanny ability to care about no one but themselves nor did they care about their own world and the plague mourned no one. It took the worst of mankind and flipped it on itself.

Only the meek, kind at heart humans, those that took responsibility for not only their lives but also those around them, they cared about what they took from the world, even if they were unable to stop the madness from happening. Only those people seemed to survive the insanity that the plague caused. That is, if they weren't killed by those who were at full capacity in the realm of crazy land.

Most of those left were women; very few young people were left alive as they were most vulnerable to the hands of those who were deep in fate's hands. Most men were utterly consumed by the disease and were lost to the world.

Why this was, no one knew and it was unsure why it chose to be so discretionary about the population. It was true that women already outnumbered the male population beforehand; perhaps this was just a rollover effect of that.

Before new moon's arrival there was an estimated 9 billion people on the planet. In the age post new moon, worldwide, there were roughly 10,000 human beings left in colonies spread across the globe, and of those perhaps only 2000 men and a few hundred children were left to deal with the aftermath of the apparent end of life as they knew it.

This is the story of the survivors, years after new moon who were eclipsed by a sadness and a grief that the generations before them bestowed upon them through the long years of their lives.

Their ancestors fought through the enormous and life altering changes in their sometimes overly busy, unproductive and product driven lives and somehow prospered with so little to rely on and gave this sad, quiet, but hopeful new world to them. This is the story of their fruits of labor, their new beginning. This is the story of their Breaking Dawn.

...MD...

an: Disclaimers stuff

All recognizable characters are property of their owner (specifically Stephenie Meyer in all her gloriousness) thank you for letting me play with your toys. (this is true for the rest of the story, I'm only going to say it here, the one time I hate long an's )

This story and my characters are my property, please don't plagiarize it or fate will get you too *grins*

I make no promises on this story, how it's written, how long it is or how long it takes to write it save one. It will get a HEA. Firm believer in those! lol

first time author, be kind in your constructive criticism please.

and last but most importantly I hoped you enjoyed it and look forward to seeing you on the flip side... next up we meet the leftover humans.


	2. Chapter 2

Manifest Destiny Ch. 2

Memory is the mother of all wisdom.

AESCHYLUS, Prometheus Bound

…..MD…

Purple and magenta hues invaded and broke into the darkness that encompassed her room. A tiny little bird sat upon her windowsill, a flighty visitor with a bright red tuft at the top of its tiny little head sent to give her a warm welcoming for the beginning of her day. It sat there soaking up the early morning moisture and gentle rays of the sun, turning towards the small being covered so thoroughly in her cotton cocoon. This beautiful little bird took a breath of air, and began to sing its morning song to her.

The cotton sheets and comforter swished as she began to stir, wiping the sleep from them before blinking herself awake. The tiny mattress groaned when she shifted to sit up, resting her head on the wall behind her.

Her head turned and she smiled at her tiny musical visitor.

"Thank you for your lovely musical melody this morning Ruby, a bit different from yesterdays, yes?" the girl asked the bird, and all she got in response was a quiet little chirp. The tiny bird having quite done its job flew off in search of its morning reward of a snack, perhaps a nice juicy worm.

The young girl giggled, kicking her socked feet out from the covers stretching all the different parts of her body. Standing slightly unsteady in the early morning, she threw on her quilted robe, tying the waistband in front of her, and walked in to the bathing area.

She moaned a little at the cool water she threw on her face from the sink, it was cool and woke her completely, well almost completely.

She called out downstairs from an opening in the doorway.

"Daddy! Can you turn the generator on please? I need to take a shower, it'll be quick, I promise!"

The girl could hear her father chuckle his deep throaty voice running up to her.

"Sorry Bells, no can do, not only do we need to save the generators power, we need to start conserving the water, winter is only a couple of months away and we'll need what we have to get through! "

Bella groaned and really felt the urge to stomp her foot, but decided against it, she knew her father was right. This year's winter was being predicated to be a more intense season that its predecessors.

She took the water and a cloth and gave herself a quick scrub down, only using the faucet to rinse off once she was done. Bella stepped back into her room and pulled clean clothes out of her dresser, changing quickly into her daytime clothes and then padded downstairs.

"Daddy?" She asked her large and imposing father "You and mom are going off today aren't you?" She wondered aloud as she fixed them both a breakfast over the stove, her father had turned on the gas just long enough to be able to cook for them and quickly turned it back off when they were done.

Footsteps pressing the wood into the kitchen broke their concentration; Bella looked up to see her haggard, tired mother sipping some water looking at them both. "Yes Bella, I'm sorry we have to go, we hope to be back soon, you know we love you and will miss being away from you honey"

They all sat in silence, unsure what to say next. Bella knew there was always the possibility, she knew the histories, and her parents were worried, not only for their mother's sake but for the entire family, the entire colony.

Bella quietly spoke "Mom, you've been doing so much better, do you really think it's necessary to leave? Are you sure you'll find someone out there that can help you? Please don't leave, either of you, I'll miss you so much and Alice is great, but she's not you guys." Pausing before adding with hope "or just take me with you! I won't be trouble and I can help!"

Renee and Charlie both quickly scooped up their daughter in their arms. Holding her warmly in between the two of them, she was the only child they had been able to have and they adored her with the entirety of their souls.

Their Bella was a beautiful girl, chestnut hair that seemed to shimmer in the sunlight, big bold brown eyes that swam in a sea of golds and reds. Petite lithe frame, heart shaped face, long nimble fingers and the loveliest shade of peach, plumped lips although the top lip was slightly larger than the bottom one, it only endeared her to her family and friends even more.

A few decades after the plague, as colonies were beginning to finally get sorted and people finally began to live again, they started noticing subtle changes, but it was only to those who were lucky enough to have been born after the plague.

Children born to the survivors started showing signs of basic DNA changes, not every child born to begin with; it was a slow evolution that eventually encompassed the current generation.

It was odd, nature's selections. With few males, there were even fewer couples, the people having decided to not adjust the way they see life and love, so you didn't see colonies of one man being coupled with hundreds of women. No, couples were allowed to seek out who they wanted. No rule was forbidden, the only thing asked was that if two males found love with each other (which wasn't often due to lack of them) they were asked to at least try to procreate with a female at least once. More often than not, they complied seeing it was best for the population.

It was strange times as far as this side of humanity was concerned, that is for sure. So many different ways all the people came together, fate the silly goddess was having the time of her existence watching it all play out.

The children that were born, after a generation or so, began showing signs of being altered. They had skin that seemed to glow. Their eyes were much larger than normal, and they all seemed to have enhanced abilities to see in the dark better than the average human. Their fingers lengthened, their nails were ever so slightly harder. Their hair seemed to glisten as if it had been sprayed with a shimmering spray, and it was always thicker, stronger and rarely did these new children ever go gray or did the men bald. Their bodies thinned and lengthened, not by much, just enough to be noticeable.

Bella was the third generation born to her family; the effects of the change were seen in her more than either of her parents.

She sighed as she stood from the table, and got out from between her parents, wiping the glistening tears from her eyes.

"I know I have chores to do, but you won't leave without saying goodbye right?" She pouted up at her parents; she didn't want to be out of their sight today.

Both of her parents nodded, but it was Charlie that answered, "Oh Bells, there's no way we could leave without saying goodbye to you, you're everything to us, and we love you. Now go on, you need to get things done today and we've got to get to preparing for our time to leave"

Bella nodded. "Alright daddy, are you going to take the new mustang? He scares me a little, kind of flighty you know?" she asked him while rinsing off the dishes, they'll stack until they can all be done at the end of the day it saves on water use.

"Honey, you know he's the youngest, freshest of the herd, we need his strength and stamina on this journey, and he'll be fine I swear. You're the finest horseman in the family, and who do you think taught you everything you know? Hmm?" he grinned widely at her in that smile she can't resist.

She giggled of course, then playfully stuck her tongue out at him "Uncle Richard did, that's who!" Charlie just shook his head at her, this was always their game when things were tense and stressed. They quickly hugged and her parents ran off outside to get their day started.

Bella stood in the middle of their living room, feeling slightly alone, she walked to the maple door and opened it, enjoying the whiff of maple and smells of the outdoors, the trees that give off that syrupy smell in the early morning hours. She put on her leather work boots, they were covered in dirt and mud and who knows what else, but she loves the softness and comfort and warmth of them.

Stepping down off her porch, she takes a moment and closes her eyes, listening to the sounds of the morning. Another mutation she knew about but no one else did, she had much better than average hearing. She could hear the horses in their paddock about a few hundred yards up the hillside. They were neighing as her father was trying his best to get them all fed. She could hear the clanging of pots and pans and utensils and plates as some of the colony enjoyed taking their breakfast together by fire pit. When questioned they said it tasted better over an open fire, and it saved energy, they all shrugged and walked off to eat.

Humming the song she heard from Ruby just this morning, Bella walked to the backyard and behind her house was a rather expansive garden area. Chickens and roosters, and other birds were walking around, thankfully not eating their vegetables.

Pointing to the chickens as if they understood a word she said, "you chickens better not be eating that spinach, daddy'll have you in a roast quicker than you can squawk for help!"

She giggled as she ran through the masses of birds and rows of planted food. "You need the exercise you lazy birds!" Then when she was done harassing them, she went to their coops and grabbed the eggs that had been abandoned by the chickens; these were the good eggs her mother had told her. She put them all in a bucket, and set it to the side to be washed before taking into town for their storage unit.

She had a long list of daily chores she had to go through, it was all basic maintenance that was taught down to her from her parents, and grandparents. They had found resource books, from abandoned libraries, there were people that came into the colonies that had certain skill sets that were useful to the survivors. All of this information they learned, taught each other and that's how they survived. Although many that had read history books and almanacs think they live more like those that lived in the 1800's, and it was true to an extent, but they lived and they were mostly happy in this year of 2253 although they rarely count the calendar, but the local colony historian seemed keen to keep up with dating the days, and the fact that they were living is what mattered most to them.

She finished her duties up and washed up the eggs and other things she'd plucked from the garden and walked her basket of goodies to the center of town. The few men that lived there had constructed a way to use leftover generators to work in short sports when needed, but there were three that stayed on permanently in a make-shift cooler that held all the town's perishable foods. Everyone in the colony put in their fair share and only took out what they needed.

The Swans always put in plenty, but since it was only the three of them, they took out little. Most lived in larger houses, letting 9 or 10 people live together, they felt it was more like a home to them to have so many warm bodies and happy faces in their house.

Each night before they went to sleep, they would take their meager amounts of food and place it on a table that held a pan in the attic by a window. The height kept it out of the way of wandering forest animals and the weather at night was always cool enough to keep it fresh for the morning. This way they didn't have to trek to town in not but their nightclothes each morning.

The afternoon lunch was quickly coming their way, they knew this as the sun was brightly breaking through the cloud cover directly over them, rays of light landing along their tables, as if a beacon of love and hope for them all. Bella sighed as she helped cut up vegetables and season them up. Everyone in town always had lunch together; it was tradition and damn near a law. This was the way they all kept an eye on each other, for both safety and for comfort.

Bella saw her parents approach and sit at the one of the numerous picnic tables that everyone had built. She watched them from her station, her father had his arm wrapped snuggly around her tearful mother. Renee had greying cinnamon colored hair and her eyes had turned dusky grey, while Charlie, looking tired still had thick chocolate colored hair and the same big brown eyes of his daughter.

Bella picked up two plates her Aunt Liz had given her, slightly nodding towards the table that held her parents and whispered a quiet, and sad "go on, take this to them honey and stay with them. I'll bring you a plate as well"

She nodded in response, said a quiet "thank you" and squared her shoulders, taking a gulp of confidence from her aunt and walked over to them, sliding their plates in front of them.

"Oh honey, that's so sweet, thank you. It looks really good, nice and fresh today" Renee spoke quietly, picking up her fork and pushing things around the plate before taking a bite.

Charlie's eyes watered and pooled, the worry taking a toll on him, he worried for his wife, the love of his life and for leaving his daughter, his precious little being. He had no choice, he had to do this, and it was utterly breaking his heart.

The three sat quietly off by themselves and spoke of meaningless things; they laughed and kept things as lighthearted as they could.

Then it was time. They all knew it. Her mother broke into a rage suddenly and threw all the plates and dinner ware towards the fire. She was so angry at the turn her life had taken.

Charlie and Bella calmed her down, slowly, patiently, and as quickly as possible before another colonist was forced to take things in their own hands.

Her Uncle Richard had gone and gotten the horse and their buggy that was packed up tight and waited beside it to hand the reins over to Charlie.

Everyone said their quiet goodbyes to them; standing off behind Bella were her closest friends waiting for her.

She snuggled again between them and held onto them with a loving fierceness. "Please, please don't go!" she whimpered into their clothing.

They all had tears as Uncle Richard came and held onto Bella after a tearful, choking nod from Charlie.

"Bells, we'll be back as soon as we can, I promise you, maybe even before the winter season begins, that would be nice right? Now please baby, be the good girl I know you are, listen to your Uncle and Aunt, help out and we'll see you soon ok?" Charlie stood looking at her for a moment when a sobbing noise from the buggy took his attention. He looked up at his wife, and sighed a very heavy and deep sigh.

"Bella, know I will always, always love you. You are that which is more precious to me than the air we breathe. Don't forget to just be you. You're so special, never forget that, and I'll see you soon." She held onto Charlie like he was giving her, her very soul.

They both took one last look back at the one thing the either of them ever really did well, their hopes and dreams, their life, their Bella. Then Charlie looked forward, gave a double click of his tongue and slapped the reins on the buckskin colored mustang gently and the buggy lurched forward, away from their Bella and the rest of their family.

Bella held back the tears watching them leave until she could not even see the slight dirt trail that had been kicked up by their buggy and floated through the wind.

The colonists, her family and friends all watched her some with sadness, some with a fear, and others with an unexplainable remorse, but they all grieved for her. And although Bella wasn't anywhere near alone, she couldn't have felt more so in that moment. She sank to her knees beside her uncle, crossed her arms and rolled in on herself, finally allowing the tears to flow freely and letting her sobs wrack her lithe body.

Her Uncle Richard and Aunt Liz weren't the only ones who never left her side throughout the afternoon.


End file.
